Interview With Nancy Tissington

INSIGHTS FROM THE DATA EXPERT EXTRAORDINAIRE

Nancy Tissington

Executive Director of Uptown Saint John

Businesses across Atlantic Canada are recognizing the inherent value that lies in data, both open and private. As savvy business owners, they are able to collect and manage data to proactively manage their spend efforts while creating repeat customers. The data that can be provided to these small business owners is pretty well endless, and some of the best businesses in the area are taking full advantage. They are using these data sets today, to collect data about consumer behaviour for further business analysis leading to smart investments.

Saint John, in particular, has a secret weapon when it comes to data and that can be found in their Uptown Saint John Executive Director, data expert extraordinaire, Nancy Tissington. We sat down with Nancy to discuss the value that she sees in open data.

Q: What is the mandate and purpose of Uptown Saint John?

Uptown Saint John is a Business Improvement Association that supports and empowers the businesses within our community to thrive. Our mandate on a more specific level is:

Advocacy

Beautification

Clean & Safe Streets

Marketing & Promotion

Urban Design & Development

Q: How does technology enable you to have a stronger Uptown Saint John core? What is the role of data in that story?

The impact of technology on my operations is huge! The cloud beacons used in this project in particular, are extremely helpful in enabling us (Uptown SJ) to meet our mission. By collecting real-time data on pedestrian and vehicular traffic flow through the Uptown, I’m able to validate so many of my business cases, for example:

We’ve had an issue with our sidewalks getting quite dirty, you know – seagulls, heavy traffic flow, etc. To try and combat this, we requested to get some funding for a new sidewalk sweeper with the city. With this data collected from the cloud beacons, we’re able to understand the volume of pedestrian and vehicular traffic flow, which helps us know when the sidewalks need to be cleaned. This provides a huge validation as to why we need this sweeper; we can show how many people are walking down on it on an hourly, daily, weekly or monthly basis. This data directly impacts our ability to achieve our mandate of a fresh and clean uptown core, with the data to back the dollars.

Another huge value of this data is for policing. I mean, we can have a general idea/guesstimate of the number of people out at the bars or festival, but we don’t necessarily know where they go throughout the uptown afterwards. Because we don’t have an exact idea of the egress, we don’t know how often the police should/shouldn’t be policing the area. With this cloud beacon data, we’re able to get an exact idea of the number of people in the Uptown after a night at the bars, or after a festival. When I go to the police force, I’m able to make a solid case as to why we need more/less police officers because I have the numbers to back it up.

These operational aspects of the work we do at Uptown Saint John are extremely valuable – think about the cleanliness of the streets, the businesses that are in the Uptown, the security, the aesthetic appeal, the economic stimulation – so much of the decisions that we make regarding these points, and our mandate, are only validated through the collection of real-time pedestrian and vehicular traffic flow. By spending our dollars through data-back decision making, we’re able to leverage the use of our funds to have a wider spread and impact.

The last example that comes to mind (not there aren’t more) with the use of this data, is in determining where businesses should set up shop. Because I am able to see the traffic flow, understanding the busy spots and times in the Uptown, I am able to justify why certain locations are ideal for certain businesses that are looking to open their doors in Uptown Saint John. Of course I won’t know the general demographics, but I will have a strong grasp on how people are interacting with the Uptown.

Q: What data sets are most important to Uptown Saint John?

Datasets related to economic impact are definitely the most important to us. To have the foot traffic data to differentiate the spending between employees who work in the downtown versus people who are visiting the uptown specifically to shop or eat would be incredibly valuable to us. Not only is this valuable for us to understand who is shopping in the uptown, it’s what pulls people to come uptown for spending versus spending for convenience during the day, this also leads back to the value of the square footage of different locations within the uptown core.

A second important aspect for us is the walkability score of a business. If someone comes to the uptown from the cruise ships, the walkability to various businesses will have a huge impact on where they choose to spend their dollars.

Q: Do you think there is a correlation between open data sets and a more resilient economy? If yes, why? If no, why?

Open data is directly linked to financial responsibility.

Without hesitation, yes. With open data, we can make more informed decisions, decisions that are generally tied a dollar value. This then enables us stretch dollars further because we can justify the exact reasoning behind the spending. Open data is directly linked to financial responsibility.

Nancy’s job is to ensure success for the businesses in the uptown, and it’s clear from above that Nancy uses data on a daily basis to determine trends and how they impact these businesses success. This smart data use speaks volume to the success of many businesses in Saint John, and those businesses who have jumped on the data train seem to thrive.